our EASY routine...comments/suggestions please

[mjn7678]

hi! my lo is 8 months old. im new to BW...got the book last thursday and started implementing everyting last friday.  so far huge progress. we moved our LO from our bed to crib, stopped the "snacking" through the night and now have one or two bigger night feeds, switched from a 3 to 4 hour routine, and have gotten him to sleep past 45 mins for naps.  i wish i knew about the BW earlier!  it has been a lifesaver.....here is my EASY routine for today.  since we are new at this, everyday is a little different. 
Awake 5:20
E 5:30 (BF)
A
S 7:30-8:35
E 9:33 (BF)
   11:00 solids, this was his breakfast. i should have included it after the morning BF, but it was so early i wasn't thinking clearly!
A
S 12:00-1:30
E  2:00 (BF)
   3:30 (solids. this is considered his lunch. bc of the morning mix up. i typically get in 3 solid meals a day
A
S 4:30-5:00 catnap . we usually do not do this but i wanted him to extend his bedtime and not be extremely OT
E 6:00
A
S 7:00

he doesn't STTN yet.  we were able to go 7 hours without nursing last night.  he woke up at 1:40, then went back to bed until 5:20.  he did wake up in between but i was able to pat him down.  i didn't know what to do with his EW, so he stayed up. i would really love to get him to at least 6. i feed him before i go to work, so i want him to be HUNGRY. when he is  fed in the middle of the night he doesn't have a great feed in the morning.  however, this morning at 5:30 he did eat well.  is it too early to wean that night feed? do you think he may drop it on his own? i'm a newbie, so does my EASY look good?

i can't begin to thank you for your help. it is so great to have all of your advice and feedback

[*Ali*]

I'm so glas you have had such success with BWing so far. Well done.
Have you tried to feed him at 5:30 and put him straight back to bed, I used to keep DS up for an hour then put him back to bed when he started showing tired signs. Then I realised that if I put him straight back in the cot he would go back to sleep withing 10 minutes sucking his blankie. I know this is not what you want to do long term but it might get you out of the EW cycle. Your LO's first A is only 2 hours after this EW so he is probably seeing that first nap as an extension to his night sleep.
He wakes up early in the morning but this is after 10.5hrs sleep so not technically EW. Have you tried moving BT later?
Regarding the NW, NO he is not too young to wean the NW. My sister did pupd with my nephew around this age to wean a NW and only had to do it a few times before he just realised it wasn't worth waking up for it. Expect crying the first couple times you do it but as long as you are there with him just remember he is only crying cos he's confused that this isn't normally how you do things. It might help if you have an OH to do pupd for the NW as DS probably associates you with feeding rather than OH.
Good luck.

[mjn7678]

thanks for your advice.  we moved his bedtime to 7, so i'm hoping this will result in a later morning wakeup time.  i'm thinking i should keep the night feed for a little longer bc we are making so many changes in a week.  then, i think to myself "is that accidental parenting?" ...lol 

[sparrow]

Hi there, I'm amazed and impressed at all your progress in one week!  My lo is 8 months old too, and we discovered BW stuff about 2 months ago.  Just wanted to give you my 2 cents about your lo's A times. 

The first A time seems a bit short at 2h10 minutes.  At 8 months most lo's are doing 3-4 hours.  He's napping for an hour which often indicates he was under tired.  You could try extending the first A by 5 or 10 minutes for a few days and see if you get a longer nap. 

The next A time is 3.5 hours and you're getting a 30 minute nap so I'd guess he was over tired.  I'd shorten this a little. 

It's best change A times gradually over time.  Soon you'll get an idea of what the best amount of time for him to be awake is (often the morning and afternoon A's are different).  If he is ready for 3 hours of A time and you get (hopefully!) 2 good naps you could cut out that annoying cat nap.  Hope that helps a bit...

[Chicane]

Hi ya

great advice from pps...thanks gals

One thing - generally, and annoyingly, moving to a later BT will not fix your EW. Infact it can make it worse! You should be aiming at a 12-13 hour day - that means if LO wakes at 6am you should be aiming for a BT around 6pm. Any longer and you will get into a OT cycle (yech) I would treat your EW as a NW and either feed or try to ssh/pat or pupd. (I fed when this happened to us) Keep him in his room and/or cot, no stimulation and treat it as an NW. Bring BT earlier for a few days extend the A times to be age appropriate and see if that fixes the EW. Once the EW is sorted you may find that BT will naturally move back to a more decent time.

EASY is really about constantly tweaking - its normal for each day to be slightly different - my days are different so why shouldn't my son's be? You have made so much progress in such a short time that I feel it wont be long before you get it just right. xxx

[*Ali*]

What BT were you doing before you moved it to 7? Did you change it by a big amount suddenly? I DO find putting DS to bed later means he wakes later but all LOs are different. I know DS can handle quite big changes in one go. Some LOs need to be eased in more slowly to changes in timings.
Tracy does recommend gradually changing bedtime to a later time to reset LO's clock when they are waking too early for mum's liking but only when it is not technically an EW (i.e. the LO is getting 10.5hrs or more night sleep). Tracy recommends this is done in 5 or 10 minute increments every few days. But she does also say that if his internal body clock resists he may just be a naturally early riser and mum will just need to go to bed earlier.
If you can increase As and get 2 good naps and drop the catnap you may find he takes a longer sleep over night anyway.
I would agree that you should hold off on weaning the night feed for now and just work on changing one aspect at a time. You may even find if you can get the daytime routine spot on the NW sorts itself out.

Good luck.

[Chicane]

yes yes yes...Cadies mum is totally right on all points...sorry I should have clarified my previous post. Here is some infor on changing BTs and wake up times http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=161836.0

It best to work on those kind of changes when the EASY is well established

And here is some info on dropping the CN...http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64837.0

hope these help!

xxx

[mjn7678]

thanks so much.........my LO is able to stay up for 3 hours...BUT.  his naps are sometimes poor...2 hours or less....lately we have been having more like 2-2.5. 

[Chicane]

mjn, are you saying each nap is 2 hours? Or he's getting 2 hours in total for the whole day? I think you mean the latter. My DS gets around 2 hours per day too, is also 8 months. Sometimes its 2.5 hrs but hardly every 3. We do ok, mostly his mood is good, by the time BT comes along he is well ready for it and a little bit cranky but mostly (not always) that little bit of OT does not effect the night. I find it completely impossible to extend his naps if he has already slept 45 min or an hour...its not worth the battle for me as it makes him even more OT and cranky. I have also occasionally given him a CN to get to a decent BT but most times when he wakes up from it (always wakes up on his own from the CN) he is even more cranky! So, I think this is actually OK for 8 months as long as he is coping with the length of his day and its not causing NWs. In a little while both of them will be able to cope a lot better...